Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytaemia in asymptomatic school children before and after treatment with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP)

Though DP provides both excellent cure rates for clinical malaria and a long prophylactic half-life, our findings suggest that after treatment of asymptomatic infections, both asexual parasites and gametocytes may persist in a minority of individuals during the first 3 weeks after treatment. This indicates DP may be unsuitable for use in mass drug administration strategies towards malaria elimination in Africa.